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Dale

Gaucho Steeze

The Cisnes River valley, where I work, is ranching country. That means there are cowboys. The cowboys down here are called gauchos. The gaucho lifestyle and culture is actually Argentinean at its root. However, since the first settlers in this area came from the East instead of the North, and Chilean Patagones in general feel more connected with the rest of Patagonia than with Northern Chile, the cowboys here are gauchos.

In the remote parts of this region of Patagonia, like the Cisnes Valley, the gaucho culture and way of life is still very much intact. These guys are cowboys. Some are caretakers of larger ranches, some have their own little campos, and pretty much all of them do freelance work. In the spring and in the fall they run cattle drives up to and then from remote grazing areas in the mountains. They live very simply. They don’t own cars, and some don’t even know their own age.

Though I still have a lot to learn about the history and culture of the gauchos in the area, I enjoy the aesthetic feeling their presence brings to my daily life at the lodge. They are a unique and interesting culture of people living a lifestyle that is largely non-existent in the United States anymore.

Here are some photos of the gauchos of the Cisnes Valley.